Speeches by Kyle.

“I am completely content, simply because the Information Commissioner himself has fully endorsed the changes that we have made and the direction of travel that we have had. We have independence baked into that particular office. We also have an Information Commissioner who speaks very candidly, as you will see when you …”

“Thank you, Chair. Congratulations on becoming Chair, and congratulations to everybody who is on the Committee. I hear, loud and clear, the spirit of the words with which you introduced me. I will try to play my part and to be as open-hearted and informative as possible. Having been on a similar Committee for a long per…”

“It is your job to assess my first five months in post. What I have tried to do is to deliver a set of machinery of government changes. We are the only Department that was allowed to make significant machinery of government changes. That was because the Prime Minister accepted that, to achieve the three broad ambitions …”

“I would like to be held to account for the focus that we have on R&D and science towards the national missions of our country, not just those that we set out as a Government, but the priorities that the country has. We have an outstanding scientific community. The work that UKRI and all of our funding bodies do is exem…”

“I do not expect there to be trade-offs. We are not a mission lead. There are five missions for this Government. DSIT is not the lead for any of them, but we are, to use the phrase that the Prime Minister has used, the foundations upon which all of the missions sit. It is not going to be possible for us to meet any of t…”

“Growth is going to become a priority for every Government Department. The Health Secretary said, quite wisely, that his is a growth Department, because, unless you have a healthy nation and you get waiting lists down, we are not going to be able to maximise our potential as an economy. Every Government Department is ta…”

“The only part of Mr Freeman’s question that I did not answer was about clusters. We recognise areas and partnerships that add up to more than the sum of their parts. There are, clearly, areas in the scientific and research community that do that. I have spoken to the university sector to try to understand ways in which…”

“You have seen from the investment summit that we have been quite successful already in unlocking additional investment into the economy, particularly on technology and digital infrastructure. You will have noticed that I have updated digital infrastructure to that of critical national infrastructure. The planning refor…”

“The Budget was the first step forward when it came to stabilising university finances, which is the majority of funding that goes through our R&D budget. We will not be able to get to where we need to be to offer the security that the university sector needs—and to where we as a country need that to be—in one step. Tha…”

“We are going to be investing in those areas that have the biggest impact in research potential.”

“Do you want to take that, because it is comparing two that I was not involved in?”

“Britain is the best place in the world to come and put your scientific skills to use. You will be rewarded for it, you will be celebrated for it, and you will find a great environment to work in. I do not underplay or downplay the challenge that the Home Secretary has in dealing with the overall migration challenge the…”

“We have to tackle the investment landscape. Our economy is under-capitalised. I have even had senior figures from the London stock exchange coming and explaining where the issues are. It will be very hard for us to compete in terms of the overall capital at the disposal of some investors and venture capitalists when it…”

“We know that there is something missing in our investment landscape. Quite often, I hear the general statement that we are not good at it, so let us be really proud about what we are really good at. We are really good at starting up. We have more start-ups per head of population that anyone on the continent of Europe. …”

“I hear you. I will take it back.”

“It is a really broad question. Firstly, we are working very closely with the Department for Education, which is establishing Skills England at the moment. It is also undertaking the largest review for a generation of the national curriculum for secondary education. DSIT is integral to those reviews. We are feeding in a…”

“In due course.”

“You are right that I, and we, are the champion of science across Government, but the Treasury is the champion of money across Government and is the Department that holds the data that you are after. We do not hold the granular data on individual spending, but what we are trying to do in response to your letter, in orde…”

“DSIT contributes to the global programme, the International Science Partnerships Fund. We will be maintaining support for that fund.[2] I have not yet made decisions on whether we adjust that funding, based on global trends and the priorities of this Government, but we certainly seek to leverage the very best of the Br…”

“This is research-focused. Right across Government, we are supporting organisations in scientific communities in different ways, particularly in universities. As the Chancellor said at the Dispatch Box during the Budget, we cannot solve every problem in one go. In those key areas, you can see where we are investing and …”